A STUDY OF DYSMENORRHEA AMONG FEMALE RESIDENTS AGED 18–45 YEARS IN SEMIRURAL AREA OF WEST TURKEY

Objective: to determine the correlates and the prevalence of dysmenorrhea in a group of women. methodology: this cross sectional study was carried out on the 556 subjects aged 18-45 years in a town of western turkey between january, and march 2009. we used visual analogue scale to assess the severity of dysmenorrhea. the data were evaluated by logistic regression analysis and chi-square tests. results: the prevalence of dysmenorrhea was 66.7%. about 32.3% of the women described their dysmenorrhea as severe. when compared to the age group of 35 and over, the risk of dysmenorrhea was 2.677 fold higher in the age group of 24 and over. the risk of dysmenorrhea was nearly 2.5 fold higher in those who had family history of dysmenorrheal. conclusion: the prevalence of depression among women was relatively high. this indicates the need for knowledge concerning dysmenorrhea to be addressed by menstruation-related health education programs.